I had too much fun the last few weeks, went out of town a bunch, state fair *omg food and alcohol galore*.

Long story short, I gained 3 lbs, everything I lost the last 3 weeks.

So - I'm ready to get back on my feet, but how should I do this. Do I restrict more calories to catch up? Or just start all over, doing 1500 calories a day and exercising. What do you do?

You know, one thing I have noticed when I screw up, a little gain, always seems to come off a little easier than the first time I lost it. I just start keeping a food diary again after I mess up, and that usually sets me right back on track. Your plan of 1500 calories and exercise sounds perfect. I have the State fair tomorrow and can't wait. It is like watching a circus with all sorts of uncaged animals, at least where I am from! I either want an elephant ear or corn dog. I haven't decided which.

i would just start over. For me it would be hard enough getting going again, let alone if i had to restrict my calories even more than i was before

I'm not 20 something, but I've faced this so many times in my 35 years of dieting experience (I started in kindergarten - or rather my mother started me in kindergarten).

In my experience, trying to compensate by being more restrictive, has never worked out well for me. Getting up and moving on as if nothing odd had happened, does.

It's hard advice to take. Last week, I ran out of my diuretic and couldn't get it filled for three days (it's for my blood pressure) and I gained 8 lbs. Gaining, even though I knew it was drug-related, was extremely frustrating, and I overate in response to it (then wondering how much of the 8 lbs were "real" pounds and how much was water weight). I decided not to change my ticker until I'd been back on the medication (and continuing to push extra water) for three days. Today is day four (and the day to change the ticker if I needed to) and YEAH, I don't need to, I'm back to where I was before the gain.

I think when you try to "compensate" it builds stress, guilt, and anxiety. Now, if you want to give yourself some kind of reward for putting a little extra effort in the next few weeks, that might work ok, as long as you're not looking at it as compensation and especially not looking at it as punishment.

great advice kaplods i completely agree